|
Post by dem bones on Mar 9, 2012 12:34:08 GMT
Out Of The Past: The Indiana Ghost Stories Of Anna Nicholas (GSS Special Booklet #4, 1992) Compiled and edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson Jessica Amanda Salmonson - Introduction: Local Color Ghosts
Anna Nicholas - Out Of The Past ( The Making Of Thomas Barton, 1915) Anna Nicholas - An Occult Experience ( An Idyll Of The Wabech, 1898) Anna Nicholas - Was It All A Dream? ( The Making Of Thomas Barton, 1915) men in stained raincoats need read no further, as, appearances to the contrary, there's nothing here for you at all, and if you prefer your ghosts malicious, no point you sticking around either. And yet ... According to the editor, this booklet collects Anna Nicholas' contribution to supernatural fiction in its entirety. Ms. Salmonson particularly likes the stories for their local colour and capable, well-rounded female characters. On first reading they brushed over me without leaving any impression other than competent, well-written, woefully scare-free, etc.., and i'll admit to being slightly baffled as to why the GSS should devote them that year's special booklet. Years on, and i must be mellowing, because now they strike me as funny and refreshingly upbeat. Out Of The Past: By day, Emily Leonard is a dull, entirely humourless widow in her late thirties, but come the night and she's transformed into a scourge-wielding dominatrix - or, at least, she is in the lively dreams of Reverend. John Graham. The young priest has endured this unwelcome situation since he arrived in the small parish of Eastport to find this rather nondescript individual sat among the congregation. In the dream, Mrs. Leonard demands of Rev. Graham that he read this or that particular sermon at Sunday mass - bondage and subjugation being the recurring theme. Should he refuse, her ghostly self gives him a painful taste of the lash. After two miserable years of it, Rev. Graham confides in an alienist, then discreetly confronts Mrs. Leonard about her colourful double life. It's clear she hasn't the faintest idea what he's talking about - she finds the whole subject of psychic phenomena as distasteful as she finds his sermons uninspired. As with each of the stories in this collection, wedding bells herald the end of the haunting, but before Mrs. Leonard heads off to California with her second husband, a brief glimpse into the past enlightens Rev. Graham as to the reason for these strange goings-on Despite the subject matter, this isn't the steamy bizarre doms & subs/ Vault kinky capers contender Dallas Goffin's cover artwork might have you believe. That said, it's a stylish, if ultimately slightly underwhelming ghost story. An Occult Experience: Longest and, by my reckoning, best of the three, set in Branchville, a small Presbyterian community. When word reaches them that their son Joe has drowned, Sarah and Abner Hales' long and relatively harmonious marriage is put under additional strain as she takes to consulting Madame Victorine, a gifted slate-reading medium. Abner, being a church elder, won't abide any trafficking with the devil and refuses to speak to her until she comes to her senses. Unknown to the Hale's, there is a third bereaved party. Joe's secret sweetheart, Nellie Hamilton has been cheated of her husband-to-be. On Thanksgiving Day, Nellie throws a fit in church following a vision of a knife-toting Mexican bandit hovering over a sleeping Joe. Can it be that his death had nothing to do with the shipwreck after all? Meanwhile, Mrs. Hales is still visiting the medium, but Joe's chalked messages are suspiciously lacking in Joe. Nellie's visions are far more exciting. In the latest, a ragged Joe - he survived the cowardly Mex - is now dying of thirst in the desert, having been thrown by his horse. Though neither woman will confide in the other, they become friends, and Mrs. Hales invites Nellie to spend Christmas with she and her still sulking husband. On New Years Day, they receive an unexpected visitor ... Was It All A Dream?: Charlotte Anderson, a very level-headed young woman, has cause to wonder "can I be haunted or am I going daft?" when, first her dreams, then her pleasant strolls about town are gatecrashed by Mr. Charles Wilbur, lawyer, deceased. The ghost means her no harm. Mr. Wilbur merely requires her help in locating a misfiled will to save his client Miss Mattie from penury. Charlotte accomplishes her mission and gains a husband, Wilbur's handsome son, in the process.
|
|